The present invention relates to a support mechanism for magnetic sliders, and more particularly to a wiring-integrated support mechanism for magnetic head sliders and a method of producing the same.
Recently, it has been reported that rigid disk drives have the following disadvantages that: i) the stiffness of leads, i.e., electrical wires such as Au wires connected to a magnetic head, adversely affects the flying characteristics of a slider as magnetic head sliders are downsized; and that ii) since connecting the leads to the magnetic head or attaching the magnetic head slider to a suspension supporting it is done by hand, the improvement of productivity has been obstructed. To eliminate these disadvantages, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 30310/1978, 246015/1985 and 215513/1994 disclose wiring-integrated suspensions in which a wiring structure is formed integrally with a suspension (i.e., a support member for supporting a magnetic head slider at its distal end).
According to such a support mechanism in which a wiring-integrated suspension is attached directly on an arm by welding or the like, it is necessary to connect the wiring structure on the suspension surface (i.e., the magnetic disk side surface having a slider attached thereon) to a flexible print circuit (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cFPCxe2x80x9d) attached on the opposite side surface of the arm relative to the magnetic disk.
To fulfill this, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 243449/1994 discloses a slider support mechanism in which a flexure acting as a suspension is attached on the disk side surface of the arm, wherein the wiring structure is folded upward at side edge of the flexure, a connection land is formed on the folded portion of the wiring structure to thereby connect the wiring structure on the disk side surface of the flexure to the FPC on the rear side surface of the arm. With this construction, the disclosed mechanism is to solve the following problem. That is, the FPC on the rear side surface of the arm is folded toward the disk side surface in the connecting portion between the arm and the flexure, and then the FPC is connected to the wiring structure on the disk side surface of the flexure of the suspension via the connection land. Since the connection land is a bulky solder projection, the distances cannot be reduced between the flexure, the arm and the magnetic disk.
However as disclosed in the Publication, when the wiring structure on the disk side surface of the suspension is folded toward the rear side, it is often damaged because of the tension generated thereon. Further, even if the wiring structure is not damaged, the reliability of the wiring structure decreases with time.
According to the assembly process of such a slider support mechanism, it is necessary to fold up the wiring structure of the disk side surface of the suspension onto the opposite side surface and secure it there, whereby the process is complicated and costly. Further, because of being folded, the wiring structure is often likely to be damaged, for example, by a mold or the like used for pressing.
The wiring-integrated flexure is manufactured by laminating a polyimide insulating layer, a Cu wiring layer and a polyimide protection layer on a sheet constituting a flexure substrate and made of stainless steel (Matsumoto et al., xe2x80x9cDevelopment of a gimbal integrated suspension substrate for magnetic headsxe2x80x9d, 15A-13 of Proceedings of the 9th JIPC Annual Meeting). In this process, more flexure patterns are arranged in a sheet of certain area to reduce production cost most effectively.
However, according to the flexure requiring the wiring structure to be folded as described, since the folded portion projects orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the flexure pattern, the flexure patterns cannot be formed densely in the sheet. Accordingly, the above flexure produces unwanted areas in the sheet, resulting in an increased production cost.
The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to enable it to easily connect the wiring structure on the disk side surface of a suspension to the FPC and the like attached on the rear side surface of the arm, thereby producing a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders at low cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple method of producing the support mechanism for magnetic head sliders.
To fulfill the above objects, the present invention provides a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders, wherein the support mechanism has a magnetic head slider attached at its distal end, and wherein the support mechanism is supported at its proximal end by a rotational shaft, the support mechanism being moved to take a read and write position and an offset position therefrom relative to a magnetic disk and the mechanism comprising:
a flexure comprising: i) a substrate of plate shape wherein the magnetic head slider is mounted on the disk side surface of a distal end portion of the substrate; and ii) a wiring structure including an insulating layer on the disk side surface, a conductor layer extending longitudinally of the substrate on the insulating layer; and a protection layer covering the conductor layer;
a load beam longitudinally joined to the flexure substrate and constituting a suspension together with the flexure; and
an arm mounted on the rotational shaft at its proximal end portion and joined to the joining region of the load beam at its distal end portion to support the load beam,
wherein the conductor layer includes i) slider pads provided on the distal end portion of the substrate and connected to the magnetic head of the magnetic head slider and ii) terminal pads provided on the proximal end portion of the substrate and connected to external wiring,
wherein the load beam has an aperture extending from the disk side surface of the load beam to the opposite rear side surface of the load beam,
wherein the flexure has its distal end portion extending along the disk side surface of the load beam and has the proximal end portion passing through the aperture of the load beam to reach the rear side surface of the load beam, the insulating layer having at least one opening and the flexure substrate having at least one opening,
wherein the terminal pads are located at the positions corresponding to said at least one opening in the flexure substrate and to said at least one opening in the insulating layer.
Preferably, the load beam has the disk side surface of the joining region jointed to the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure is arranged on the rear side surface of the load beam joining region.
Preferably, the load beam has the disk side surface of the joining region jointed to the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the arm, and wherein the flexure has the proximal end portion of the substrate extending beyond the load beam joining region to reach the arm and jointed to the rear side surface of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads are arranged to extend beyond the load beam joining region to reach the rear side surface of the arm.
Preferably, the load beam has the rear side surface of the joining region jointed to the disk side surface of the distal end portion of the arm, and wherein the flexure has the proximal end portion of the substrate extending to reach the rear side surface of the arm and jointed thereto, and wherein the terminal pads are arranged on the rear side surface of the arm.
Preferably, the arm has a cutout formed in the distal end portion, which cutout is opened toward the distal edge of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are located within the cutout of the arm.
The present invention also provides a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders, wherein the support mechanism has a magnetic head slider attached at its distal end, and wherein the support mechanism is supported at its proximal end by a rotational shaft, the support mechanism being moved to take a read and write position and an offset position therefrom relative to a magnetic disk and comprising:
a flexure comprising: i) a substrate of plate shape wherein the magnetic head slider is mounted on the disk side surface of a distal end portion of the substrate; and ii) a wiring structure including an insulating layer on the disk side surface, a conductor layer extending longitudinally of the substrate on the insulating layer; and a protection layer covering the conductor layer;
a load beam longitudinally joined to the flexure substrate and constituting a suspension together with the flexure; and
an arm mounted on the rotational shaft at its proximal end portion and joined to the joining region of the load beam at its distal end portion to support the load beam,
wherein the conductor layer includes i) slider pads provided on the distal end portion of the substrate and connected to the magnetic head of the magnetic head slider and ii) terminal pads provided on the proximal end portion of the substrate and connected to external wiring,
wherein the load beam has an aperture extending from the disk side surface of the load beam to the opposite rear side surface of the load beam and has the disk side surface of the joining region joined to the rear side surface of the arm, the proximal end of the aperture extending beyond the distal end of the arm,
wherein the flexure has the distal end portion extending along the disk side surface of the load beam and has the disk side surface of the proximal end portion of the substrate joined to the rear side surface of the arm within the aperture of the load beam, and
wherein the terminal pads are located within the aperture of the load beam and at the positions corresponding to said at least one opening in the flexure substrate and to said at least one opening in the insulating layer.
Preferably, the arm has a cutout formed in the distal end, which cutout is opened toward the distal edge of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are located within the cutout of the arm.
Preferably, the load beam is bent with load so that the magnetic head slider to be mounted on the flexure may come near the magnetic disk.
Preferably, the aperture of the load beam is formed in the load-bent region, and wherein the flexure is formed of only wiring at least at the position corresponding to the load-bet region of the load beam.
The present invention also provides a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders, wherein the support mechanism has a magnetic head slider attached at its distal end, and wherein the support mechanism is supported at its proximal end by a rotational shaft, the support mechanism being moved to take a read and write position and an offset position therefrom relative to a magnetic disk and comprising:
a flexure constituting a suspension and comprising: i) a substrate of plate shape wherein the magnetic head slider is mounted on the disk side surface of a distal end portion of the substrate; and ii) a wiring structure including an insulating layer on the disk side surface, a conductor layer extending longitudinally of the substrate on the insulating layer; and a protection layer covering the conductor layer; and
an arm mounted on the rotational shaft at its proximal end portion and joined to the joining region of the load beam at its distal end portion to support the load beam,
wherein the conductor layer includes i) slider pads provided on the distal end portion of the substrate and connected to the magnetic head of the magnetic head slider and ii) terminal pads provided on the proximal end portion of the substrate and connected to external wiring, and
wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are located at the positions corresponding to said at least one opening in the flexure substrate and to said at least one opening in the insulating layer.
Preferably, the flexure substrate has the disk side surface of the joining region joined to the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are arranged on the rear side surface of the arm.
Preferably, the flexure substrate has the rear side surface of the joining region joined to the disk side surface of the distal end portion of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are arranged on the rear side surface of the arm.
Preferably, the arm has a cutout formed in the distal edge portion of the arm, which cutout is opened toward the distal end of the arm, and wherein the terminal pads of the flexure are located within the cutout of the arm.
Preferably, the flexure substrate is bent with load so that the magnetic head slider to be mounted on the flexure may come near the magnetic disk, and wherein the flexure has no substrate under the wiring structure in the load-bent region.
Preferably, a flexible print-circuit substrate is joined to the rear side surface of the arm, which flexible print-circuit substrate is connected at its one end to the terminal pads of the flexure.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders, wherein the support mechanism has a magnetic head slider attached at its distal end, and wherein the support mechanism is supported at its proximal end by a rotational shaft, the support mechanism being moved to take a read and write position and an offset position therefrom relative to a magnetic disk and comprising: i) a flexure having a substrate and including a conductor layer formed on the disk side surface of the substrate, which conductor layer having slider pads and terminal pads, the slider pads being connected to a magnetic head of the magnetic head slider and terminal pads being connected to external wiring and exposed on the rear side surface of the substrate; ii) a load beam jointed longitudinally to the flexure substrate; and iii) an arm having its proximal end attached to a rotational shaft and having its distal end portion joined to the joining region of the proximal end portion of the load beam, the method comprising:
a first step of forming an insulating pattern having at least one opening in the disk side surface of the flexure substrate, said at least one opening being located to correspond to the terminal pads;
a second step of forming a plating feed layer on the insulating layer and the exposed disk side surface of the flexure substrate;
a third step of i) forming a first resist layer on the plating feed layer except the region on which the conductor layer is formed and also forming the first resist layer on the rear side surface of the flexure substrate and ii) sequentially laminating an etching stopper layer, an intermediate layer and a surface layer except the region on which the first resist is formed, by electric plating using the plating feed layer as an electrode, the three layers constituting the conductor layer;
a forth step of removing the first resist layer and etching the feed layer using the conductor layer as a mask except the region on which the conductor is formed;
a fifth step of forming a protection layer covering the conductor layer except the region where the slider pads are formed;
a sixth step of i) forming a second resist on the rear side surface of the flexure substrate, the second resist having at least one opening at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads, and also forming the second resist on the entire disk side surface of the flexure substrate and ii) etching the flexure substrate and the feed layer on the flexure substrate using the second resist as a mask so as to form a substrate having at least one opening at the position corresponding to the terminal pads;
a seventh step of i) joining the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the flexure substrate to the disk side surface of the load beam after passing the flexure through the aperture formed in the load beam and ii) joining the disk side surface of the proximal end portion of the flexure substrate to the rear side surface of the load beam;
a eighth step of joining the disk side surface of the joining region of the load beam to the rear side surface of the arm; and
a ninth step of subjecting the load beam to a bending process with load.
Preferably, the method comprises, instead of the above seventh and eighth steps, the steps of:
i) joining the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the flexure to the disk side surface of the load beam after passing the flexure through the aperture formed in the load beam and
ii) joining the disk side surface of the joining region of the load beam to the rear side surface of the arm, wherein the flexure substrate has a region corresponding to the terminal pads, which region is jointed to the rear side surface of the arm beyond the jointing area of the load beam.
Preferably, the method comprises, instead of the above seventh and eighth steps, the steps of:
i) joining the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the flexure to the disk side surface of the load beam; and
ii) joining the disk side surface of the joining region of the load beam to the rear side surface of the arm and joining the disk side surface of the flexure substrate, at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads, to the rear side surface of the arm within the aperture of the load beam.
Preferably, the method comprises, instead of the above seventh and eighth steps, the steps of:
i) joining the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the flexure to the disk side surface of the load beam after passing the flexure through the aperture formed in the load beam; and
ii) joining the rear side surface of the joining region of the load beam to the disk side surface of the arm and joining the disk side surface of the flexure substrate, at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads, to the rear side surface of the arm.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a support mechanism for magnetic head sliders, wherein the support mechanism has a magnetic head slider attached at its distal end, and wherein the support mechanism is supported at its proximal end by a rotational shaft, the support mechanism being moved to take a read and write position and an offset position therefrom relative to a magnetic disk and comprising: i) a flexure having a substrate and including a conductor layer formed on the disk side surface of the substrate, which conductor layer having slider pads and terminal pads, the slider pads being connected to a magnetic head of the magnetic head slider and terminal pads being connected to external wiring and exposed on the rear side surface of the substrate; and ii) an arm having its proximal end attached to a rotational shaft and having its distal end portion joined to the joining region of the proximal end portion of the flexure, the method comprising:
a first step of forming an insulating pattern having at least one opening on the disk side surface of the flexure substrate, said at least one opening being located to correspond to the terminal pads;
a second of forming a plating feed layer on the insulating layer and the exposed disk side surface of the flexure substrate;
a third step of i) forming a first resist layer on the plating feed layer except the region on which the conductor layer is formed and also forming the first resist layer on the rear side surface of the flexure substrate and ii) sequentially laminating an etching stopper layer, an intermediate layer and a surface layer except the region on which the first resist is formed, by electric plating using the plating feed layer as an electrode;
a forth step of removing the first resist layer and etching the feed layer using the conductor layer as a mask except the region on which the conductor is formed;
a fifth step of forming a protection layer covering the conductor layer except the region where the slider pads are formed;
a sixth step of i) forming a second resist on the rear side surface of the flexure substrate, the second resist having at least one opening at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads, and also forming the second resist on the entire disk side surface of the flexure substrate and ii) etching the flexure substrate and the feed layer on the flexure substrate using the second resist as a Mask so as to form a substrate having at least one opening at the position corresponding to the terminal pads;
a seventh step of joining the disk side surface of the joining region of the flexure to the rear side surface of the arm; and
an eighth step of subjecting the flexure to a bending operation with load so that the magnetic head to be mounted on its distal end portion may come near the magnetic disk.
Preferably, the method comprises, instead of the above seventh step, the steps of:
i) joining the disk side surface of the flexure substrate, at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads, to the rear side surface of the distal end portion of the arm; and
ii) joining the rear side surface of the joining region of the flexure substrate to the disk side surface of the arm.
Preferably, the method comprises, instead of the above sixth step, the steps of:
i) forming a second resist on the rear side surface of the flexure substrate such that the second resist may have openings at the positions corresponding to the terminal pads and to the load-bent region, and
ii) etching the flexure substrate and the feed layer using the second resist as a mask so as to form a substrate pattern having at least one opening corresponding to the terminal pads and to the load-bent region.